Dispensing apparatus



' July 9, 1957 L. ARNETT ETAL y DISPENSING APPARATUS l Filed April 28,1955 rag recta" e contamination of the powdered material.

United States Patent 'O1 DISPENSING APPARATUS Leslie Arnett and WilliamG. Fraise, Chicago, Ill., as-

signors to United Coffee Corp., a corporation of illinois ApplicationApril 23, 1955, Serial No. 504,491

6 Claims. (Cl. 222-181) This invention. relates to a dispensingapparatus and, more particularly, to means for agitating material to bedispensed.

Where particulate or granular material such as powdered sugar or creamis to be dispensed from an apparatus such as a beverage dispenser, meansare provided to `store a quantity of the particulate material, and, whendesired, dispense a small portion thereof from the bottom of the storagemeans by suitable dispensing means. It

ing Vresults wherein a reduced quantity or no quantity is .actuallydispensed.

To prevent this undesirable effect, means for agitating .the mass ofmaterial contained in the storage means are provided. The agitatingmeans now found in the art have several serious disadvantages however;they generally lcomprise paddles or similar stirring devices adapted tobe inserted Within the storage means for stirring the powdered `materialand thus require rigorous cleaning to preclude Further, such .agitatingmeans are often disposed at the bottom of the `container, being formedintegral with the dispensing means, and act to stir the material onlyadjacent said bottom so that caking may occur in the upper portion of.the material mass. Another disadvantage lies in the requirement fordisassembly of such agitating means whenever the storage means isremoved for such purposes as cleaning.

The principal feature of this invention, therefore, is

`the provision of a dispensing apparatus with a new and improved meansfor agitating material stored therein.

Another feature is that the agitating means is externally disposedrelative to the container in which the material is stored allowing thecontainer to be readily removed for purposes such as cleaning andobviating the need for extreme cleanliness of the agitating means.

A still another feature of the invention is the provision of suchagitating means having a member arranged to strike the container sharplyso as to jar and `agitate the `material contained therein.

A further feature of the invention is that such agitating t means isyieldingly mounted in abutment with the container to allow the readyremoval of the container from engagement therewith and absorb recoilshock forces produced.

A yet further feature is that such agitating means is arranged to beactuated whenever the dispensing means is actuated so that intermittentstriking occurs and agitation Other features and advantages of `this"invention will rice be apparent from the following description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure l is a side elevational View partly broken away of a dispensingapparatus provided with agitating means embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the pivotal connecting meansfor mounting the agitating means solenoid on the dispensing apparatus,and;

Figure 3 is an electrical schematic diagram of the dispensing motor andagitating means solenoid circuits.

Reference now being had to the drawings, an agitating means embodyingthe invention is shown in a dispensing apparatus comprising a storagecontainer 10 provided with a dispensing means generally designated 11arranged to discharge powdered material 20 from the lower portion of thecontainer. Mounted on a portion of the dispensing means 11 by a suitablesupport is an agitating solenoid 15 disposed adjacent a portion of thecontainerv 1d so that when actuated the solenoid plunger 16 is caused toforce the support sharply against the wall of the container, therebyjarring and agitating the material 20 within the container.

Container 1o comprises a hollow receptacle having an open upper endprovided with a cover lilla and a generally closed bottom end with alaterally opening discharge port 10b. Container 10 may be formed of anymaterial which may be readily cleaned and having sufficient strength toabsorb strikings of solenoid plunger 16 without permanent deformation, athin-Walled stainless steel receptacle being typical and satisfactoryfor this purpose.

Dispensing means 11 may take the form of any of the powderedmaterialrdispensing devices known in the art. For purposes of thisdisclosure a typical dispensing means wherein a worm conveyor 12 isdisposed within and across the bottom of the container 10 having a freeend 12a terminating within the discharge port 10b and a driven end 12bextending through the wall of the container and attached to a suitablerotary drive mechanism 13 including an electric motor 14. A support 21is provided .on which the drive mechanism 13 and electric motor 14 aremounted and which removably supports the container 10.

Worm conveyor 12 is caused to rotate by action of motor 14 through drivemechanism 13 so as to move material 20 surrounding it outwardly throughthe port 10b (to the right as seen in Fig. l). The material dischargedfrom the port 10b may be channeled therefrom by suitable means orallowed to fall freely into suitable receiving containers (not shown). tt

Solenoid 15 is carried by an L-shaped support plate`17, being lixedlyattached thereto by suitable securing means as screw 17a. Aright-angularly-extending end portion 17b of the plate is arranged toengage the container 1,0. When coil 15a of the solenoid 15 iselectrically energized, the plunger 16, having been positioned in thewithdrawn position (as seen in Fig. l) by action of a return spring 15bcarried by fthe solenoid, will be caused to strike plate 17 sharply withthe resultant shock force being transmitted to the container 10 throughplate end 17b.

Support plate 17 is pivotally secured at the end opposite portion 17b tothe support 21 by means of a spring loaded hinge 1S. A rst hinge plate18a is iixedly secured to the support 21 as by screws 18a and ispivotally secured to a second hinge plate 18b by a pintle 18C. Screws18h' are provided for attaching second hinge plate 18h to the supportplate 17. A coil spring 18d is mounted on the pintle 18C with the springends under tension and abutting the hinge plates urging them into anopenedrelationship (in a clockwise direction as seen in Fig. l). Suchurging action causes the end portion 1'7b of the support plateyieldingly to abut the container 10 for transmitting the agitatingforce. The rotational movement of plate 17 may t extremely simple andeffective.

from the dispensing apparatus. l

As seen in Fig-3, electric motor M and solenoid coil 15a'are`electrically Connected in parallel so that?- simultaneous actuation ofeach may be effected. Onc comymon "connection therefrom is electricallyconnected to oneside L` of a powersupply line' and-theother commonconnection is electrically connected through a switch 22 to the otherside L of the power supply. Theopening and closing of switch 22 iscontrolled by cam 23 which is driven by a cam` motor 24. As motor 2d mayhave other cams associatedtherewith, the kfunctioning of the dispensing'means 11 and the agitator solenoid 15 may lne-related to otheroperations in `the brewing *and dispensing cycle.

4{ideen-ed; however, `switch Zmay be a manually operable type' allowinglcontrol of the dispensing means and solenoid agitating means as desired.

`V`The-*use of my new and improvedlagitating means is Container 1t) issimply and-readily-placed on support 21 with the worm conveyor 12extending along the bottom portion ofthe container.

Plate 17'having been maintained in a generally vertical positionby stopmeans 19, plate end 17b will automatically abut the container wall andis yieldingly held thereagainst by action of coil spring iSd. rl'heparticulate material 20 such as powdered sugar is then placed in thecontainer through the open end and cover a is placed on the top of thecontainer to exclude foreign materials. When dispensing of a charge ofthe powdered material is desired, electric motor 14 is actuated byclosing switch 22. Worm 12 is thus caused to rotate in a directioncausing the powdered material surrounding it to be moved by the wormthreads thereon outwardly through the port 10b of the container. Thisrotation is allowed to continue until the desired quantity of thepowdered material is discharged from the port; for most purposes only afew turns are necessary. At the same time the motor 14 is energized,solenoid coil 15a will also be energized, electromagnetically drawingthe plunger 16 inwardly (to the right as seen in Fig. l) and causing itsinner end to strike the adjacent portion of plate 17. As switch 22maintains the circuit closed during the dispensing operation, a singlesuch striking is effected as plunger 16 is maintained in the Vinsertedposition during the time coil 15a is energized.

As a considerable jarring force is produced by the action Aof plate end17b against the container 10, the material 20 contained within thecontainer is agitated breaking up any cakes or lumps. Further, as thestriking action is not of the continuous or vibrating type, the materialtends ,to 'gravitate differently during the quiescent period betweenstrikings from the manner in which it gravitates when the container isstruck so that the channelizing effects which may be produced byvibrating means are precluded.

When the solenoid coil 15a and electric motor 14 are vdeenergized by theopening of the switch 22, solenoid plunger 16 is withdrawn from contactwith bar 17 by means of the spring 15b, allowing the plunger again tostrike the plate as described above when solenoid coil 15a issubsequently energized.

Transmission of the striking shock to the support 21 and the portions ofthe apparatus secured thereto is effecthe jarring and loosening effecton the other portions of the device. As the solenoid 15 is mountedexteriorly of lthe container 10, it is not in contact with the powderedmaterial contained therein and therefore does not require themeticulouscleanliness required in the interior of the xcontainer, vtherebyreducing the maintenance cost. Furfther, suchy exterior mountingprecludes the necessity Vfor disassembling the agitating means wheneverthe container 10 is removedfor purposes such as cleaning, again reducthemass rather than merely adjacent the conveyor 12.

While we have shownand described certain embodiments of our invention,it is to be understood that it is capable of many modifications.Changes, therefore, in the construction may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope ot. the invention as defined in the appendedclaims.

We claim:

l. A dispensing apparatus of the character described, comprising: acontainer; means for dispensing a desired quantity of material from thebottom of the container; and means operatively associated with thedispensing means for effecting only a single jarring of the entirecontainer each time the dispensing means is'operated thereby to agitatomaterial therein.

2. A dispensing apparatus of the character described, comprising: acontainer adapted to store particulate material; a member disposed inthe container and extending outwardly therefrom adapted to conveymaterial outwardly from Ithe container; electrically-operated means .forintermittently actuating the conveying member; and electrically-operatedagitating means electrically-connected to said conveying memberactuating means for simultaneous operation thereof, said agita-tingmeans being arranged to jar sharply the container only a single timeeach time the means for actuating the conveying member is operated.

3. A dispensing apparatus of the character' described, comprising: acontainer adapted to hold particulate material; a dispensing wormextending outwardly from the interior bottom of the container through aport therein; electric motor means for intermittently turning said wormto dispense materials surrounding the Worm through said port; and anelectric solenoid mounted exteriorly of the container and having a coilelectrically connected to said motor whereby -the coil is energizedwhenever the motor is energized, and a plunger arranged to cause a sharpstriking of the container when the plunger is electromagneticallyactuated by the coil.

4. A dispenser comprising material holding means including a support anda container thereon, an electricallyoperated solenoid having a plunger;and means operatively connected to the solenoid for yieldingly disposingthe solenoid adjacent the container whereby said solenoid plunger may beactuated to cause said disposing means to strike sharply said containerand said solenoid may bounce away from said container to precludeundesired dampening of Ithe transmitted shock force.

5. The dispenser of claim 4 wherein the disposing means comprises aplate having `one end pivotally carried by the container and an otherend, means securing the solenoid to the plate at said other end, andspring means extending between the plate and the holding means urgingsaid other end into yielding abutment with the container and acting toabsorb recoil shock developed by the striking action by the plunger.

6. A dispenser of the chanaoter described, comprising: a support; acontainer removably carried on the support and having a discharge port;dispensing means extending into said container and said port; a platemowably secured to said support and having an end; spring meansextending between the support and the plate yieldingly urging said plateend into abutment with the container; stop means on the support limitingmovement of said plate caused the action of said spring when saidcontainer is removed from said support; and means operatively associatedwith the plate for sharply striking said plate to transmit a shock tothe container.

- (References -on following page) 5 References Cited in the le of thispatent 2,598,227 UNITED STATES PATENTS 685588 2,709,541 1,488,228 BurnsMar. 25, 1924 1,570,795 Tainton Jan. 26, 1926 5 2,130,005 Gay Sept. 13,1938 951 171 2,541,742 Booth Feb. 13, 1951 142201 2,560,480 Rogers etal. July 10, 1951 6 Constantine May 27, 1952 Steiner Aug. 3, 1954Mettler et a1. May 31, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS France Apr. 1l, 1949Australia July 16, 1951

